Mental Health Issues

Shawn Christopher Shea

Dr. Shea is the Director of the Training Institute for Suicide Assessment and Clinical Interviewing (www.suicideassessment.com), a training and consultation service providing workshops, consultations, and quality assurance design in mental health assessments. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Dartmouth Medical School.

Terry Wise

Widowed at 35 following her spouse’s death from Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), and after surviving a near-fatal suicide attempt, Terry Wise spent the next several years in treatment. A former Boston trial attorney, Wise has since devoted her life to international public speaking and full-time writing. She has traveled to all 50 states and hundreds of cities to appear as a keynote speaker, continuing education instructor and workshop presenter—speaking to both the general public and professionals on topics related to depression, grief, long-term caregiving, suicide prevention, and the process of recovery.

Josh Rivedal

Josh Rivedal wears many hats. Josh Rivedal is a motivational public speaker, life coach, playwright, producer, business and career consultant, and ordained minister. When not working, Josh Rivedal enjoys a nice Pinot Noir, a good historical fiction book, traveling when possible, Tae Kwon Do, and learning new languages.

Kevin Hines

Kevin continues to speak to over three hundred thousand people about a firsthand experience with suicidal thoughts and his eventual attempted suicide. He is one of 33 Golden Gate Bridge jump survivors. Less than 2% of those people who have survived the jump, have regained full mobility as Kevin has. He is the sole survivor actively spreading the message of living mentally well and the prevention of suicide. Hines is a powerful, honest, and intimate presenter, and a phenomenal writer.

Amanda Beard

Amanda Beard made her first Olympic swimming appearance in 1996 at the age of 14. Beard won one gold and two silver medals at that first Olympic Games and has been a strong competitor since. She went on to win a gold medal, two silvers and a bronze at the next two Olympic Games. Beard is the winner of eight national titles and is a former world record holder.

Julie Woodley

Julie Woodley is the founder and director of Restoring the Heart Ministries, Inc. A speaker, author, and counselor, Woodley holds an M.A. in counseling and a certificate in Theological Studies from Bethel Seminary. She is also currently finishing her M.Div., and her Chaplain Training. She is a certified trauma counselor and was ordained in 2000. Julie draws from personal experiences and the healing she has found in Christ to share hope and healing with other victims of trauma.

Bobby Schindler

Bobby Schindler is the executive director of the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation. Schindler’s life took a dramatic and unexpected turn in February of 1990 when his older sister, Terri, suddenly collapsed and was left with a profound brain injury. When Terri’s husband sought court permission to starve and dehydrate her to death, Schindler was suddenly propelled into a public life he’d never wanted or imagined. He became Terri’s primary public advocate, speaking in defense of his sister’s life on numerous national television and radio programs.

Jill Bolte Taylor

Scientist and Author, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a trained and published neuroanatomist. Her specialty was in the postmortem investigation of the human brain as it relates to schizophrenia and the severe mental illnesses.

Marie Osmond

Singer, actress, television personality, businessperson. Born Olive Marie Osmond on October 13, 1959, in Ogden, Utah. While she has achieved a number of successes as a solo artist, an actress, and a businessperson, Marie Osmond is often best remembered for her collaboration with her brother as the singing duo Donny and Marie.

Patty Duke

Patty Duke, Academy Award winning actress, past President of the Screen Actors Guild, and best selling author, has been delighting and challenging audiences for more than 40 years with her work in movies and on television. Her Oscar-winning portrayal of blind, mute and deaf Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker" launched Patty as one of America's finest young talents.

Patch Adams

Dr. Patch Adams travels around the world lecturing on his work and doing theater shows about various aspects of health, particularly dealing with self-care and preservation. He is enthusiastic, perceptive, and a humorous person.